My Shadow - Hardcover

Stevenson, Robert Louis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0879237880 ISBN 13: 9780879237882

Publisher: David R. Godine, Publisher, 2019

Synopsis

The poems in Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses have been popular ever since the book's first appearance more than one hundred years ago, and none more so than "My Shadow," a traditional favorite for reading aloud.

Glenna Lang has created a visual narrative depicting a young girl's travels through a dream nighstcape with her shadow companion. Beautifully true to the sense and spirit of Stevenson's work, the illustrations add their own grace and rich atmosphere to Stevenson's popular poem. This edition of My Shadow is a wonderful way to enjoy an old favorite bedtime poem with the youngest child.

About this title

About the Author:

Illustrator Monique Felix's work has appeared in more than 40 books, including the highly popular "Mouse Book" series. She has won the Bratislava Prize, the Octogone Prize, and various honors from the Bologna Book Fair.

From School Library Journal:

PreSchool-Grade 2 --Stevenson's poem plays with the concept of "shadow" as a physical phenomenon, and even hints at a psychological dimension to the shadow self, who is called a "coward," evokes disgrace ("I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!"), and "can only make a fool of" the speaker. Lang's flat acrylic paintings eliminate natural shadows and reduce volumes to shapes--as shadows do. The problem with the illustrations is conceptual. Although the flap copy asserts that the heroine travels through "a dream nightscape," there are no internal cues to differentiate the dream setting from the real one. In her pajamas, the heroine might be having a late stroll, or an early one. A sliver of moon confusingly does all the work of shadow-making, until the last line, when the heroine emerges "very early, before the sun was up" into a world as bright as midday but mysteriously shadowless (while the noontime shrinkage of shadows cited in the text has occurred at midnight). The book not only does disservice to Stevenson's verse but also badly muddles the principles of shadow casting. --Patricia Dooley, University of Washington, Seattle
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: David R. Godine, Publisher
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 0879237880
• ISBN 13: 9780879237882
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Lang Glenna